Six Arkansas death-row inmates filed a lawsuit Friday seeking to prevent the state from using a new method of execution adopted by the Legislature in February.
In their suit filed in Pulaski County Circuit Court, the inmates argue that the 2013 Method of Execution Act (Act 139) violates state law and both the Arkansas and U.S. constitutions. The state was forced to change its lethal injection procedure after the Arkansas Supreme Court invalidated a 2009 law that granted the Department of Correction broad authority to develop an execution method on its own.
That court decision resulted from a lawsuit filed by the same six inmates who filed suit Friday. Arkansas hasn't carried out an execution since 2005.
Read Saturday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.